New approach to cross-polarized optical coherence tomography based on orthogonal arbitrarily polarized modes

A novel cross‐polarized optical coherence tomography (CP OCT) system is developed, which is based on standard isotropic single‐mode fiber. We exploit the property of an arbitrary pair of orthogonal waves propagating in a singlemode fiber to maintain their orthogonality in the absence of anisotropy l...

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Veröffentlicht in:Laser physics letters 2006-09, Vol.3 (9), p.445-451
Hauptverfasser: Gelikonov, V. M., Gelikonov, G. V.
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:A novel cross‐polarized optical coherence tomography (CP OCT) system is developed, which is based on standard isotropic single‐mode fiber. We exploit the property of an arbitrary pair of orthogonal waves propagating in a singlemode fiber to maintain their orthogonality in the absence of anisotropy losses, regardless of the induced phase anisotropy. The well‐known isotropic fiber based OCT scheme that commonly comprises an optical probe with a Fizeau interferometer and a compensating Michelson interferometer with Faraday mirrors is modified. We introduce an additional optical element to form the initial radiation into two mutually time‐delayed and coherent waves that have strictly orthogonal polarizations. The suggested scheme allows implementation of several variants of independent detection of the initial and orthogonal polarizations with a low level of optical coupling between channels. (© 2006 by Astro, Ltd. Published exclusively by WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA)
ISSN:1612-2011
1612-202X
DOI:10.1002/lapl.200610030